Cholet announced Antwayne Robinson

Cholet announced Antywane Robinson(2.03-SF/PF) via their official website in order to replace the injured Michael Lee that will stay out of action for 3-4 months.

He graduated from Temple in 2006 and in his last season he averaged 12.7 points 5 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 32 games but he wasn't drafted. Robinson can cover both forward positions due to his athletic skills. He was waived by the Sixers during preseason and he found a job now in France where he played last season as well. Leaving Sioux Falls of the NBDL he signed with Pau Orthez and he averaged 9.9 points 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 20 games in the french LNB league.

Moshe Weinkratz resigned from Bnei Hasharon

This seems to be the week of resignations and dismissals. Another coach to follow is Moshe Weinkratz who resigned from Bnei Hasharon just after 2 losses of his team according to the Eurocup Official site. Weinkratz hadn't coached in the pro leagues since 2002 so the decision to appoint him head coach came as a surprise.

"I reached the conclusion to resign because I want the team to reach the goals we set, and I believe it must go through a big change to accomplish that. Though it's not an easy move for any of the sides, it had to be done," said Weinkratz. The club's chairman and general manager, Eldad Akunis, said: "I respect Weinkrantz a lot. I still believe in him and think he could have lifted us from the current crisis if he hadn't resigned. I'm sure I'll consult him and listen to his opinion in the future and wish him all the best."

Katsikaris and Rogers sacked from Valencia

In the early stages of each league several teams will not perform to the best of their abilities. This is a well known fact. However the administrations of european teams have other expectations.. That can be attributed to lack of knowledge in the sport of basketball or unrealistic targets to justify changes. Only in very few cases you can be sure as to what is actually going on. In most cases you can only guess unless you have inside information..

The bench of Valencia lacks a captain as Fotis Katsikaris was sacked yesterday by the administration of Pamesa Valencia. Katsikaris was followed by Johnny Rogers who was the general manager of the team. Fotis Katsikaris will be compensated fully for the remainder of the season and he will probably remain in Valencia for the remainder of the season for family reasons.

Interestingly enough, Demos Dikoudis gave an interview to greek site gazzetta.gr saying that the administration of Valencia had it coming for Katsikaris. He said that they were dubious about his ability to make a competitive team and for that reason they didn't allow him to replace certain players with the pretense of a lower budget.

At the moment there is no telling who could be the next head coach of Valencia.. the list of candidates is long. Media from all around Europe have named Sergio Scario, Neven Spajia as the most likely candidates and let's not forget Pepu Ernandez who was implicated in rumors regarding Real.

Latest news from Spain and solobasket.com say that the strongest candidate at the moment is Sergio Scariolo.

Bosna ASA BHT announced Vlada Vukoicic

KK Bosna ASA BHT announced Vlada Vukoicic as their new head coach via their official web site. Vukoicic left Oostende a few days earlier and it wasn't long enough before he found a new coaching position. He comes in to replace Alen Abbas who resigned last Tuesday after 4 consecutive losses for Bosna.

Vlada Vukoicic is known for his skill in coaching young players and is considered one of the best coach prospects in Europe. A testament to that is the conquest of the Adriatic League with FMP Zeleznik in 2005, the Serbian cup in 2006 with FMP Zeleznik and the Gold Medal in the U-20 European Championship as the head coach of Serbia.

Hapoel Migdal announced Roger Powell

Hapoel Migdal announced Roger Powell(1.98-SG/SF) via their official website. Powell played last season for Teramo in Italy and had a good season and before that he had a brief pass via the magical world of the NBA.

He graduated from the college of Illinois in 2005 where he averaged 12 points and 4.1 rebounds in 39 games and since then he has tried to get a contract in the NBA but never really got decent playing time. He played briefly for Utah, he also played in the CBA and the NBDL. Last season he averaged 13.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in 33 games playing for Teramo in Italy.

Michael Jordan to Brose Baskets

Michael Jordan(1.83-PG) will be the new player of Brose Baskets as it was announced by their official website. The 31-year old veteran has played in numerous european teams and is no stranger to the german league.

He has played for Artland Dragons and Koln 99ers in the past in Germany but he has also played for Cantu in Italy, BK Ventspils in Latvia and last season he played for Paok in Greece where he averaged 7.4 points 2.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 5 games in the greek A1 league.

Paok in turmoil

According to the latest news from Greece, Paok is going through a major re-construction. The rumors about a possible replacement of coach Pedoulakis are slowly becoming a reality for the greek club. Coach Pedoulakis did not return with the team to Thessaloniki as some greek media are saying that Dimitris Drosos who owns Paok now has already agreed with bosnian coach Nenad Markovic that coached Panionios last season.

Paok also announced via their official website that Damir Mulaomerovic is on his way to Greece and more specifically Athens -he will be arriving there tomorrow- and if there is an agreement between him and president Drosos he will become a player of Paok and head to Thessaloniki the same day. Meanwhile, accordin to eurobasket.com, the administration of Paok is considering the replacement of Dejan Tomasevic. They feel that his contribution does not justify his high contract.

Pierce to retire in Greece?

Paul Pierce gave an interview to greek newspaper Eleftheros Tipos and he said there that the prospect of ending his career in Greece is a thought that occured to him.

Pierce said that he has considered the possibility of playing in Greece when his contract ends with the Boston Celtics. He said there are quite a few greek people in Boston and also in the staff of the team and that he is really fond of Greece and travelling. If there is an offer from Greece he will consider it very seriously and he joked saying that if they don't want him there he will go somewhere else in Europe.

The Boston Celtics will be on the top of his priorities when it comes to renewing his contract but he said that he won't examine any possible offers from Greece or the rest of Europe.

Patrick Ewing Jr is looking for a job in Europe

According to an interview in the Orlando Sentinel, NBA legend Patrick Ewing will be looking for a job for his son Patrick Ewing Jr(2.03-SF) in Europe or the NBDL.

Junior was trying his best to secure an NBA contract with the New York Knicks but he was cut during pre-season as the Knicks preferred to keep Anthony Robertson instead. Ewing was chosen as the 43rd overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. He was traded to the Houston Rockets along with Sean Singletary and Ron Artest, then traded in exchange for the rights of Frédéric Weis to New York Knicks.

In his last season in Georgetown he averaged 6.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in 34 games.

Double announcement from Besiktas

Besiktas announced a double transfer in order to replace Jovo Stanojevic. Reginald James Butler(2.07-C) might sound like a surprise transfer for Besiktas as this player was playing in LEB Silver last season for Santa Paola. He has played for Tekelspor in Turkey before where he averaged 10.3 points and 7.4 rebounds in 20 games.

Dennis Mims(2.05-PF) is their 2nd player who played in Finland, UK and Poland before and last season he played in the TBL2 in Turkey.

Paok close to Mulaomerovic

Another rumor from the greek media has to do with the case of croatian veteran Damir Mulaomerovic(1.94-PG) and Paok. The greek team has immense difficulties in the point guard position and since they have 2 positions open for european players sport24.gr makes mention of a possible deal with Mulaomerovic who has played for Paok in the past. The article says that coach Pedoulakis and Mulaomerovic are in agreement and the deal might be announced soon.

The 34 year old croatian point guard played for Paok in the past and he has also played for Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and Panellinios in Greece. Other teams include Udine, Real Madrid and Bruesa. He played for Cibona last season and he averaged 7.2 points 1.3 rebounds and 1.9 assist in 11 games in the Euroleague.

Rumors about Tsakalidis and Panionios

Panionios seems to be having problems in their forecourt and so a rumor appeared in greek media and namely from sportdog.gr. According to the article Panionios is considering the case of the Iakovos Tsakalidis(2.18-C) that has experience from the NBA and last season he was playing for Olympiakos. He was trying earlier this summer to get a contract in the NBA but didn't succeed in doing do.

Tsakalidis started his career in AEK in Greece and then moved on to Phoenix for 3 seasons and later on Memphis for 4 seasons. He played one more season in Houston and then moved to Greece and Olympiakos. Last season he averaged 4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13 games for the Euroleague with Olympiakos.